Key fesatures of Prologo saddles is the use of Active Density technology which utilizes just the right amount of stiffness and padding densities from front to back to help control pressure. Active Shape design technology keeps the saddle wide enough to support the body but yet is cut slim to allow the legs to swing freely without hamstring rubbing.

The Prologo Nago EVO DEA women’s saddle uses a slight depression down the center of the saddle to alleviate pressure . The Nago TS and the ZERO PAS Gel Ti 1.4 road saddles utilize Ti rails and carbon fiber injected base shells. The PAS Gel Ti saddle also uses gel padding and a center cutout. The Nago EVO Tri40 also utilizes Ti rails and a carbon fiber injected base shell as well and is available with or without Slide Control – light ridges to reduce sliding forward if you ride with your saddle nose down.

Way back in August of 2010, Outside Magazine named Tucson the Best City for Road Biking. With “winter” upon us, it seemed a good time to bring some attention back to this accolade. Tucson is, indeed, without equal when it comes to the varied routes one can ride within 30-45 minutes of any part of town. The hardest part for someone doing a cycling vacation here is deciding which rides to do and which to save for next time! If you are visiting and looking for a great route resource, check out Desert Journeys. From great climbing routes like Mt Lemmon, Madera Canyon and Kitt Peak, to easier rides like Old Spanish Trail, River Rd and Oracle, combined with virtually 365 days of good riding weather, Tucson truly is a “cyclist’s paradise.”

Riding Freeman Road in Tucson

Endurance sports training camps galore descend on Tucson from about January through April to experience the Winter Training Capital firsthand, and TriSports.com is lucky to be involved in many of them. We LOVE to help camps determine routes, host them here at the store and provide whatever help we can to make their Tucson experience one to remember. We even have our own Tucson Training Destination Specialist to help the individual or camp with things like accomodations, restaurants, routes and more! But cycling is only one of the many attractions mentioned when Outside Magazine picked Tucson. They also mentioned our low unemployment rate (nearly 2% below national average) and our low cost of living (35% below San Diego). Even better? Our clean skies. The American Lung Association puts Tucson as the 6th cleanest city when it comes to air particulates. In addition, they loved our easy-going attitude and open-mindedness when it comes to diversity. All of this makes Tucson not only a great place to visit, but an awesome place to call home!

There are a ton of awesome benefits working here at TriSports.com. One of the best ones we have is our employee demo bike program. Once you have worked full time here for a year, you become eligible for a demo bike. This year we had a choice of the Quintana Roo CD 0.1 Ultegra bike or the Ultegra equipped Litespeed C3. I chose the C3.

The Litespeed C3 is back for its second season. The first iteration was a great step for Litespeed to jump head first in the carbon bike pool. It had a great component mix, with a stiff, yet compliant frame. This year they kept the rock solid and great performing Ultegra 6700 road group with the FSA BB30 Gossamer compact, and added a more aero wheelset and did away with the seatmast of the first generation.

The ride of this bike is flat out fast and comfortable. the geometry of the bike inspires downhill speed and solidity through the corners. One of the retail associates, Ashley L. had a 1st generation C3 as her demo bike last year, and believes the new setup is hands down better.

The top end Litespeed C1R is being ridden by Brian Grasky and Brian Nath, both coaches for the TriSports Triathlon Club. They are both very happy with the rides, and for good reason. Take a look at the TriSports University article written by Tom Demerly.

Litespeed has gotten this family of bikes right, no question. I have ridden this bike for fun at the Urban Assault race this past weekend, and in “hard” efforts with some friends and it never disappoints. Litespeed has made a bold statement with this bike, and if you haven’t come by to take a look at it before buying your next road bike, you should. You will not be disappointed.

Marilyn McDonald, Cara Bussell, Chloe Black, and Mimi Ford are all smiles after their win at the Tucson Bicycle Classic

Stage 1:An early team warm-up on Friday set the stage for their successful weekend at the Tucson Bicycle Classic. The time trial course starts on a minor descent, with sweeping right turns followed by the ascent of a minor rise before the final sting in the tail with a sharp ascent at the finale. McDonald pushed hard taking third place, and just 9 seconds behind the leader with a time of 8:51.

Stage 2:The Stage 2 circuit covered 3 laps around a 20 mile loop, with a sustained climb, rollers, flats, and a descent. TriSports Cycling/Eclipse Racing’s Mimi Ford showed the field their squad was not going to make this an easy race by launching early attacks during the opening miles. Two other riders joined the move. The powerful Lisa Turnbull (Riverstone), used this move as a springboard for her own solo effort. Bussell bridged up to the duo as they worked together to put significant time on the chasers. TriSports riders policed the group by reeling in any chasers that formed. Cara Bussell launched a daring solo attack on Turnbull 20 miles into the race. Her intention was to work as hard and as long as she could for her team until she was brought back. With an effort reminiscent of Jeannie Longo or Maria Canins, Bussell consolidated her lead. In the end, with the help of teammates riding in a defensive role Bussell held off the field and soloed over 40 miles for an impressive 1st stage win and the yellow jersey. Sanders sprinted for 4th and McDonald placed 5th.

Anna Sanders breaks away to take the stage 3 victory.

Stage 3:It was a chilly morning as the women began 7 laps of a 5.6 mile circuit for Stage 3. The undulating circuit featured an uphill finish, and a sprint bonus at the start line on lap 3. The goal for the day was to keep Bussell in the yellow jersey and to move McDonald into 3rd place on General Classification. Alisha Welsh (Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12) controlled 2nd place on general category and challenged Bussell’s jersey immediately out of turn one. The counter attacks started immediately and the group was caught a bit off guard, but reacted quickly to control the threat. Welsh, Gwen Ingles (Primal/MapMyRide), Melanie Colavito (RideClean) and others continued to put in strong attacks throughout the race. TriSports.com riders covered each move, riding in pursuit of a time bonus on the 3rd lap to gain the 1 second needed on Stephanie Skoreyko (Kallisto/Wheels of Bloor). Black, Sanders, Hetzel, and Bussell lead out a charging McDonald who snagged the critical bonus. The women continued to cooperate to execute the plan that Black had laid out for the team. On the final lap, Sanders chased down an early solo attack. With only a few kilometers remaining she attacked her breakaway companion and powered in for the stage win. McDonald took 6th with Black and Bussell coming in 9th and 10th.

While the Yellow Jersey was on the shoulders of TriSports Cycling/Eclipse Racing’s Cara Bussell, it was Chloe Black and the rest of the team that shouldered much of the burden of race leadership. Here Bussell (right) congratulates Black on a selfless ride.

There are a lot of you out in cyber land that keep track of our happenings through various sources. For those of you following the water harvesting thread, it is now official – we have our sign and we just released the official press release last week. Chalk one up to Mother Earth!

A standard bearer for the triathlon industry, Zoot continues to push the envelope with its next generation Prophet Triathlon Wetsuit, a marvel of engineering genius and one of the most well thought-out wetsuits on the market!

Innovation was the key element in the design and development of the Prophet. This ultra flexible wetsuit will make you faster in the water by lowering the amount of friction your body creates as you swim.

The leading and trailing edges were designed to lower drag and resistance while increasing speed, resulting in less fatigue and a more powerful stroke and kick. Ultimately, the Prophet increases efficiency, saving time and energy and making your bike and run a little bit easier.

Easy access to nutrition during your training or racing rides allows you to concentrate on the ride and not on fumbling around trying to unzip or detach velcro to get to your nutrition! The Sampson System 1 Kit does exactly that – simplifies your access to your nutrition.

The unique mounting of the Sampson System 1 Kit makes it easy to install especially if you have a 5mm spacer already installed between your stem and top cap. The Sampson System bracket is placed under the stem cap and remains right where you need it – within easy reach!

What a weekend we had here at TriSports.com with our 4th annual kick-off of the triathlon season, TRIFEST! This year we were lucky enough to have 24 of our 29 Team TriSports athletes come from across the country to join us for our first ever Team TriSports training camp. The camp was kicked off with our annual TRIFEST group ride to Mt. Lemmon. Athletes had just enough time to scarf down a sandwich before we headed off to the pool for a workout designed by The Man himself, Seton Claggett. Friday night the team gathered together at the retail store to carbo load, learn about TriSports.com history, and to get to know each other a little better.

2011 Team TriSports uniforms designed by Louis Garneau

Prior to dinner, athletes were asked to pack their bags for Saturday’s mystery workout (muahahaha!). The team was up bright and early on Saturday to ride their bikes over to the J.W. Marriott Starr Pass where the team went head to head in a rather unique surprise sprint triathlon.

TriSports.com President, Seton Claggett, joined the team for their workouts

The race had a time trial water slide start into the resort’s lazy river. Athletes swam 2.5 laps against the current of the river.

Swimming upstream proved to be more of a challenge than the athletes anticipated.

Next, they hopped onto their bikes for a fast 12 miles bike on a rolling course around the Starr Pass community.

Billy Oliver climbs the hill into T2.

Finally, they took off on a challenging 1.5 mile technical trail run and finished up the race with another 1.5 miles around the resort’s property.

Kara Middendorf heads out of T2 and onto the challenging run course.

Ian Mikelson took a strong lead for the men, but DNF’d after the run due to an Achilles problem, leaving the win to Thomas Gerlach. Missy Kuck’s killer swim and speedy transitions left her untouchable and took the win for the women.

TriFest 2011 kicked off the triathlon season for TriSports.com this past weekend! It was an exciting weekend filled with the kind of fun that makes triathletes drool. The weekend started off with a ride up the famed Mt Lemmon on Friday morning. About 100 people made it to the base, with a vast majority of them ascending to some point on the peak. The ride was supported by the SRAM Neutral Race Support vehicle and the TriSports.com truck, and Cervelo was on hand to provide bikes to test out on this challenging ride. Most members of Team TriSports.com were on hand to meet the rest of the team and participate in some great events just for them (more on that in Jaclyn’s blog on 3/15!).

Ascending Mt Lemmon at TriFest 2011

On Saturday, we had over 40 different brands represented by manufacturers, plus 9 community partners, including USAT! Customers were able to wander through the expo and speak directly to the vendors about their products. We reduced waste by providing everyone in attendance with reusable TriSports.com water bottles and having a water station set out rather than having tons of disposable water bottles, and it was a hit! Some of the highlights…Orca USA provided a great taco lunch for everyone, Sister Madonna Buder had a book signing and Q&A, there was a Chi Running Clinic and a great swim clinic presented by Grasky Endurance. Check out a review of the products in our TriFest feature on TriSports University on 3/15!

TriFest 2011 expo

We topped off the weekend with a great VIP party for our vendors, sponsored entities and our community partners where Louis Garneau was awarded the first ever Vendor of the Year award! Louis Garneau was chosen for many reasons, some of which include nearly a 100% shipping and invoicing accuracy rate; reaching out to partner with us on innovative projects; freight incentives to get us product quickly; and a very similar set of Core Values to our own, setting employees, customer service, community support and the environment as some of their key focuses. Congratulations to Louis Garneau, and thanks to all of our vendors for their support and help making TriFest 2011 a huge success!